Optimal Alignments for Designing Urban Transport Systems: Application to Seville

Guido Marseglia, Carlo Maria Medaglia, Francisco A. Ortega and Juan A. Mesa
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Guido Marseglia: Research Department, Link Campus University of Rome, Via del Casale di San Pio V, 44, 00165 Rome, Italy
Carlo Maria Medaglia: Research Department, Link Campus University of Rome, Via del Casale di San Pio V, 44, 00165 Rome, Italy
Francisco A. Ortega: Instituto de Matemáticas de la Universidad de Sevilla, (IMUS), Universidad de Sevilla, Avenida Reina Mercedes 41012 Seville, Spain
Juan A. Mesa: Instituto de Matemáticas de la Universidad de Sevilla, (IMUS), Universidad de Sevilla, Avenida Reina Mercedes 41012 Seville, Spain

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 18, 1-14

Abstract: The achievement of some of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from the recent 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has drawn the attention of many countries towards urban transport networks. Mathematical modeling constitutes an analytical tool for the formal description of a transportation system whereby it facilitates the introduction of variables and the definition of objectives to be optimized. One of the stages of the methodology followed in the design of urban transit systems starts with the determination of corridors to optimize the population covered by the system whilst taking into account the mobility patterns of potential users and the time saved when the public network is used instead of private means of transport. Since the capture of users occurs at stations, it seems reasonable to consider an extensive and homogeneous set of candidate sites evaluated according to the parameters considered (such as pedestrian population captured and destination preferences) and to select subsets of stations so that alignments can take place. The application of optimization procedures that decide the sequence of nodes composing the alignment can produce zigzagging corridors, which are less appropriate for the design of a single line. The main aim of this work is to include a new criterion to avoid the zigzag effect when the alignment is about to be determined. For this purpose, a curvature concept for polygonal lines is introduced, and its performance is analyzed when criteria of maximizing coverage and minimizing curvature are combined in the same design algorithm. The results show the application of the mathematical model presented for a real case in the city of Seville in Spain.

Keywords: sustainable development goals; transport infrastructure; network design; trip coverage; optimization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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